This invention relates generally to floating nuts, and, more particularly, to floating nuts carried loosely by generally cylindrical retainers adapted to be slid into a cylindrical bore of a panel.
Fastener apparatus of this particular kind are useful in fastening together two panels subject to high separation forces and to limited lateral displacement relative to each other. One example of such a fastener apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,809, issued to F. W. Rohe. The disclosed apparatus includes a nut having a threaded bore for receiving a conventional bolt and a generally cylindrical retainer for loosely supporting the nut in a prescribed position while permitting the nut to move by limited amounts in directions both perpendicular and parallel to the nut's longitudinal axis. A transverse hole is formed in the retainer, aligned with the nut's threaded bore, to guide the bolt into threaded engagement with the nut.
The retainer is sized to slide smoothly into a cylindrical bore formed in one of the panels, to a position where the retainer's transverse hole aligns with a transverse hole formed in the panel. the bolt can thereafter be inserted through the aligned holes, to threadedly engage the nut.
Although the barrel nut fastener apparatus described briefly above has proven to be generally effective, it has not proven to be entirely satisfactory in all situations. For example, only a small portion of the nut extends beyond the perimeter of the transverse hole formed in the retainer, which guides the bolt to the nut. Consequently, very high compressive stresses can arise at the interface between the nut and the retainer. This can sometimes cause the nut to deform.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there is a need for an improved barrel nut fastener apparatus in which the compressive forces between the nut and the retainer that loosely retains the nut are prevented from physically deforming the nut. the present invention fulfills this need.